Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We need more judges, which the Minister alluded to in his presentation. The Circuit Courts are totally under-served, particularly for family law court cases. As the Minister can appreciate, family law cases are particularly emotional, difficult and children are involved. The elongation of that process is torture, unfair and damaging for the individuals involved. The appointment of judges is not a popular issue and has been politicised in the past but there is no other solution. In order to expedite many of the cases in the Circuit Courts we will need more judges so we must appoint some. There have been discussions on the process of appointment. There have been long Oireachtas debates on changing the manner in which appointments are made and taking the politics out of the process. That is fine but what happens in many cases, particularly in family law cases, is that couples are having protracted battles in court and protracted court cases so children are affected. In addition, costs are exorbitant because of the elongated nature of cases. The only solution is to appoint more judges to the Circuit Courts.